Effects of prostitution: An urban population responds

This article examines community perceptions about the legalization of prostitution in a large southern community. The authors utilized a random digit dialing technique to develop a representative sample consisting of 850 respondents. In addition, the authors interviewed prostitutes to determine their perceptions about how they helped individuals and society. Themes were developed from the personal accounts of the prostitutes and presented to the public to assess their feelings regarding whether or not prostitution is beneficial in certain instances. One of the major findings of the study was that 32% of the community members interviewed believed that prostitution should be legalized. This finding led the authors to discuss policy implications in the last section of the article.     

Intermediate punishment: Redistributing or extending social control?

During the past two decades, a major area of debate has been about the meaning and consequences of the community corrections movement that has now evolved into intermediate punishment. A question underlying this debate is whether or not this movement accomplishes its expressed purpose of reducing reliance on prisons by redistributing control into the community or merely extends community control without altering previous reliance on prisons. This study assesses Florida's intermediate punishment strategy of home confinement. Data from observations of program practices and interviews with home confinement officers, offenders on the program and various family members living in the home address the operational features of the program. Pre and post program statistics (1980–1987) on state population, felony convictions and forms of correctional sanctions explore the program's impact upon the state's characteristic sanctioning trends. The findings provide no support that home confinement has reduced Florida's reliance on prisons. Specifically, throughout the decade of the 1980s, and despite the operation of a home confinement program that has involved over 100,000 offenders, Florida's use of prisons experienced major increases disproportionate to the state's population, and conviction increases. The paper concludes with discussion of ironies associated with correctional reforms and related empirical and theoretical implications.     

“Clean up and go straight”: Effects of drug treatment on recidivism among felony probationers

The central question we address in this article is whether participation in court-ordered drug treatment programs reduces future criminal involvement among convicted property offenders who have a history of drug abuse. Using a national sample of male property offenders sentenced to felony probation, we analyze drug treatment experience on probationers’ recidivism rates by employing proportional hazards techniques. Results indicate that how successful white men are in completing courtordered drug treatment programs has no significant effect on their recidivism rates. However, AfricanAmerican and Hispanic men who satisfy the expectations of their drug treatment programs are significantly less likely to be rearrested. Overall, our findings support the contention that drug treatment reduces further criminal behavior among men on probation for felony property offenses. Thus, we recommend that court service personnel strive to provide drug treatment programs for property offenders with a history of drug abuse and that supervisors closely monitor probationers’ activities while in treatment to assure lower rates of recidivism. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society in Chicago in April 1996.     

The Mexican Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2000 and Democratic Transition

The article examines the presidential and congressional elections of July 2000 in Mexico. The elections brought to an end more than 70 years of single party government and the culmination of a gradual democratisation process stretching back at least a decade. The long term decline in the bases of support for the regime and the changing institutional rules for elections and parties are described by way of contextualising the campaign itself and its leading protagonists. While the new rules of the game guaranteed free and fair elections, issues of internal party democracy and negative, personality-based campaigning do not paint a universally rosy democratic picture. Analysis of the election results demonstrates how the opposition was able to move beyond its traditional geographic confines and challenge across the country. However, voters did not give an unambiguous victory to Vicente Fox; his alliance does not possess a majority in either house of congress. Divided government and developments in the party system are considered as two key issues that will shape Mexico's democratic future.     

Apathy and its Discontents: Social Capital and Social Awkwardness in American Life

ABSTRACT

The transformation of the state in the neoliberal era has characterized the debate in international/comparative political economy and political science scholarship. Many of such accounts, however, often assume a static and reified vision of the state. In contrast, this study, by focusing on the dimension of political agency in the state, provides for a qualitative analysis of the transformations of the Italian state during the consolidation of neoliberalism (1988–2009). Through a Critical Discourse Analysis of the political economy of Italian governments, the article tests two main hypotheses. First, similar discursive strategies of legitimation of neoliberal reforms and permanent austerity are found across the party-system. Second, these strategies occur, with no significant variations, throughout the period considered by our study. The aims of the article are three. First, to emphasize the relevance of political agency in the state to the imposition of neoliberalization; second, to explore how the neoliberal idea of state is redefined within a constellation of collateral discursive strategies; third, to emphasize the importance of the analysis of context-based discursive strategies of neoliberalization. While the empirical analysis confirms the cross-party and longitudinal extension of neoliberal political economy, the conclusions discuss the relevance of these findings to understand contemporary democratic crisis.     

Differential outcomes of court-supervised substance abuse treatment among California parolees and probationers

To explore the effectiveness of court-supervised drug treatment for California parolees, offender characteristics, treatment experiences, and outcomes were examined and contrasted to those of probationers. The analysis used statewide administrative data on 4,507 parolees and 22,701 probationers referred to treatment by Proposition 36 during fiscal year 2006-2007. Compared with probationers, parolee problems were more severe at treatment entry, more were treated in residential settings, treatment retention was shorter, and fewer completed treatment. Regarding outcomes, fewer parolees were successful at treatment discharge and more recidivated over 12-months post admission. Both groups improved in many areas by treatment discharge, but improvements were generally smaller among parolees. Significant interaction effects indicated that parolees benefited from residential care and more treatment days, even after controlling for covariates. Court-supervised drug treatment for parolees can "work;" however, parolees have more frequent and diverse needs, and their outcomes are enhanced by more intensive treatment. Findings suggest methods for optimizing the effectiveness of criminal-justice-supervised programs for treating drug-dependent offenders.     

Sudden Cardiac Death in a Young Man with Migraine-associated Arrhythmia

A 31-year-old man with migraine-induced syncope and bradycardia with subsequent pacemaker implantation died unexpectedly. Clinically unsuspected cardiac anomalies were found at autopsy including myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending artery and shelf-like coronary artery ostia. Nortriptyline was identified by toxicologic analysis. A review of the autopsy findings, the historical information, and the effects of the possible arrhythmogenic circumstances is undertaken and the potential contributions to the death are discussed. Cardiac arrhythmias have been documented during migraines. Coronary artery bridging has been known to lead to ischemia and infarction, ventricular tachycardia, and sudden death; however, these are very rare sequelae. Congenital coronary artery anomalies have been linked to sudden cardiac death, but only rarely cause death in people younger than 31 years. Migraines and the autopsy findings described have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Altogether, they led to the unexpected death of this young man.